roadquill1

We have a very comfortable room in Bloom’s Hotel in Temple Bar area of downtown Dublin. We were both very excitedly looking forward to the sights and sounds of Ireland. Our room is right above the street and a pub, so the sounds carried on far into the night. One sound that I had eagerly looked forward to was the Irish accent. It is surprisingly rare in this part of the city as there are loads of tourists, and foreigners – a very cosmopolitan atmosphere more to be expected, perhaps, in London, or in New York City.

The sights (sites) are magnificent. Talk about history, and literature!

Yesterday, the Padghams found their way to Blooms sans a piece of baggage and sans sleep. However their excitement to be in Ireland matched ours, and give us all the energy to wander the streets some more and to enjoy our first “Irish pub” dinner. The luggage showed up much later.

Today, we stoked up on Starbucks and wandered again in warm sunshine until we decided to visit Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. A guide, “Steven” took us on a short tour of the campus, and then we queued for the old library. There were more old books there than in the second hand book store in Penticton…oh, plus the ancient manuscript of the four gospels – the Book of Kells. The library was a beautiful old place…”no pictures, no talking, etc.”

We wandered through St. Stevens Park, and then called an afternoon break. Our afternoon closed in a pub with some refreshments, and then we wandered off to find a post office and restaurant. Pub meals once again were terrific and then we strolled through the cobbled streets of Temple Bar for one last time. Tomorrow we will pick up our car rentals and become terrified occupants of the LEFT LANES as we try to find our way out of Dublin towards the tiny town of Doolin on the southwest coast – south of Galway. (There is no particular strategy in this other than a ‘counterclockwise’ direction will put our passengers, Alice and Sandy, on the inside as we crawl the coastal cliffs.) Why Doolin? Why not! A quick pin in Google Maps told us how to get there.

We’ll let you know how it goes!

Love and best wishes to all!
The Quilter and The Quill, The Bob, and Alice

Well six weeks have flown by faster than we would have hoped, and memories of our southwest travels will have to suffice until next year – along with the slight tans from screened sun that we achieved – for a few more days before spring rains wash them away. Our journey home was remarkable in that we never saw any rain – anytime! Even I-5 – usually a sponge bath with visibility limited by the spray from the transports, was bone dry.

The first notable city after our stay just north of Lakeview on Saturday, was Bend, OR on Easter Sunday.We had been given instructions by “Pam and Bill” – a couple we met at Patagonia (and again at Tombstone), to walk along the river park near downtown Bend. Good advice! It was a very pretty park on a beautiful Easter Sunday, with a few folks strolling throughout the downtown area, and a few kids finding Easter eggs in hedges, lampstands, and so on. We encountered a young couple wearing medieval costumes with tri-pointed clownish hats on the main drag, and we said “hello”, but right behind them was a younger couple dressed in “Goth”, with one holding the other on a leash. The one on the leash suddenly stepped in front of me and hissed like an scared cat. I ignored him, but we realized afterwards that I should have growled and barked right back!

  “The Bend” in downtown Bend.

Bend is surrounded by volcanic peaks, and they are really quite spectacular!

The “Sisters” and other lesser peaks near Bend and Sisters, Oregon.

The only spray we experienced was from snow melt just west of the town of Sisters, OR when we “coasted” downhill towards Salem through what must have been a very deep snow pack. Sandy figured out that the long orange poles at the sides of the road were to show the snow plows where the edges are!

Deep snow along the highways west of Sisters. The red substance is a kind of sand.

We stayed Sunday night at Woodburn, and then stopped at the Fabric Depot in Portland before rolling right on through Seattle to join our Walnut Grove family in the evening.

I did SO stop at Fabric Depot. (I was going to “edit” the photo by adding a Red Flyer filled with quilting supplies, but…I like the Quilter’s smile better than her glare!!)

We had two days with the very busy Lindsays and then headed home, arriving in Nanaimo yesterday afternoon in the rain, and in time for the Canuck show of penalty killing. Welcome home! However, the weather cleared enough today to mow the lawn, and I guess our spring is well and truly launched. Blossoms will soon be out here.

More music at Lindsays – a lesson                A mowed lawn: The beginnings of summer labour.

I hope that our adventures have been somewhat entertaining. Thanks for all of your comments. Let me know if you preferred the blog or the emails, and…don’t forget, you can “unsubscribe” if you need a break. I will probably continue with the “Roadquill” into the future, just because I kinda like doing it. My “roads” will include sailing voyages (without the Quilter – of course!), and a European trip in the Fall (with the Quilter, and two other couples).

We are glad to be home! Love, and best wishes to all. Drop in, or drop us a line.

Tony, the Quill, and Sandy, the Quilter.

Well, here we are – back in Oregon again – just north of a town called “Lakeview” – one of the highest cities in the State. The roads to get here have been some of the most enjoyable that we have travelled in either north, or south directions. Part of this is surely because of the spectacular weather – from 20 C when we left Lake Havasu City and then steadily getting cooler as we rolled north through Nevada, and into Oregon this afternoon. The other reason is – no traffic!

So, for your “routofiles” (folks that love to hear which highways and byways you travel on) here goes:

We travelled up Highway 95 from Needles (“No stopping, Sandy…the name has nothing to do with quilting!”) north past Las Vegas and then continuing through the little gold-mining town of Goldfield, and then to Tonopah, Nevada. Diesel there cost $4.199 at a little private garage – a much better price that the bigger stations on the highway. We had originally planned on staying in Tonopah, but the only RV place was at the Casino, and so I opted to keep going for another couple of hours – to Austin, NV.

We had to backtrack a couple of miles, and then we headed due north on Highway 376 to Austin. This highway was surprisingly vacant, and just for fun, I began to check the times between passing vehicles. It was about 1 to 2 minutes on average. At 70 miles per hour, this means that usually, you can just barely see the oncoming lights of the next vehicle as one passes you on the long straight stretches.

Just before Austin, we were in some very high country and the road became very twisty for the last few miles into Austin. We stayed at the Austin RV Park – a tiny little place with no one around. The office seemed to be the Baptist Church, but I guess that we were too late for Good Friday services, so we put our money in the collection envelope and stuck it in the door. For other Roadies – the place was clean, but cold, and our sink drain line frosted up overnight. It was about -4 C when we headed out at 8:30 this morning.

The best was yet to come!

I, personally, LOVE new routes, and so far this trip had been wonderful with gorgeous scenery, and little traffic on two-lane roads. Today (Saturday) topped yesterday, however.

Just outside of Austin’s western edge, we turned north up 305. We had the gorgeous Toiyabe and Snoshone Mountains lit up behind us in the early morning sunshine, and beautiful ranges on either side as we roared up the valley in the middle towards Battle Mountain, NV.

Toiyabe and Shoshone Mountains to the south of Austin           The same – in the rear-view mirror!                                     Hwy 80 – heading towards Winnemucca

At Battle Mountain, we swung west on a 4-lane freeway 80 to Winnemucca, where we turned north on 95 until we hit 140.

                                                                                  Hwy 140

On this stretch to Lakeview, OR, we passed, on average, about one vehicle every 10 minutes for the first 3 hours or so. Try to imagine that on any highway in daylight hours. At 70 mph two vehicles meet every 10 minutes. (At -4 C you could have a very cold thumb if you were hitchhiking, since you might only see a vehicle every 20 minutes, or more!) This little calculation reminded me of a very long night in the Queen Charlotte Islands when I hitch-hiked from Port Clements towards Queen Charlotte City and only saw 2 vehicles in about 2 hours! I guess we can be grateful for a full tank of fuel, and no break-downs!

At a Rest Stop at noon we saw a bare-footed family (a young mother with 5 barefooted children) with 3 dogs in a cargo trailer – a rottweiler, a bull mastiff, and a husky pup. As we got out to stretch our legs, the youngest child came running over to me and reached up to be picked up. Thumpety, thump! That was a heart-warmer in the chilly afternoon wind! The mother quickly put the Mastiff on a chain – before it became too protective of the young toddler, I guess. Mother was pretty good at getting them rounded up for departure – “I will count to two!” (No messing around with a safer three count.)

  The Rest Stop on 140

After sandwiches and a snooze, we hit the empty road again. Very shortly thereafter, we saw several wild burro herds, wild horses, and antelopes, as well as two very large golden eagles. As we climbed the pass over Antelope Butte (you can see several antelope butts in the pictures) the roadside and surrounding areas were lightly snow-covered.

Antelope butts at Antelope Butte                                                   Antelope: pee before flee                                                                  Snow above Lakeview, OR

Lakeview, Oregon, turned out to be NOT the place we wanted to stay so we continued north on 395. Tomorrow, we will turn off at Hwy 31, and follow a new route to Bend, and then on to Salem and Portland. Sandy looked online today at the Quilt Shop…”An acre and a half of supplies…”. Guess we will camp there a while.

Getting closer to you – except for Nicki, in Australia, and the Benz’s in Germany! Best wishes and love to all.

The Quill and the Quilter

On Saturday, the drive to Roper Lake (near Safford, AZ) featured a beautiful one hour drive north from Wilcox through high rolling desert with wild flowers just beginning – the bloom is a bit later than two years ago when we drove through here.

There was lots of room for us at Roper Lake State Park, and we settled into two spots with ramadas over picnic tables – a welcome shade from the direct sun! Since we were planning on two full days of boating and fishing, we immediately off-loaded the kayaks and put them on the golf carts to wheel them down to the lake. We hadn’t noticed when we came in but the lake was very different from when we were here two years ago: the reed beds are much reduced in area, the bird population is way lower, and the water level is down between 1 to 2 metes resulting in an ugly alkali mucky “beach” that we had to wheel the kayaks through to get to the water’s edge. The water has a very shallow entry also, so Sandy got in and I pushed her as far as I could before I almost lost a sandal in the gumbo. She had to push with her paddle the rest of the way to where she could float. I also struggled to get to floating, and then had to dangle my feet in the water to lose the muck before I brought my feet into the kayak.

We paddled around the perimeter of the small man-made lake, but it didn’t feel as “alive” as we had remembered. Sandy soon had had enough, and headed back so that Mike and I could use the kayaks for some fishing late in the afternoon and evening. Mike also lost a shoe (and recovered) in the muck getting onto the shore later, and the fishing efforts were in vain – well, Mike actually had a couple of strikes. I had baseball’s “three strikes”! At dusk, the clouds of bugs got in our ears, eyes, and noses. So, overall, the whole project was quite unpleasant! However, later, coyotes serenaded us in the night, and the star viewing was excellent!

April Fools Day came early in Truck House. On Saturday night while the coyotes sang, we decided that my Happy Helium Birthday Balloon had been hanging around long enough. Sandy asked if helium really changed someone’s voice, so I cut a tiny hole in the balloon, breathed in deeply, and joined the coyote chorus by singing her a couple of lines from “I’m forever blowing bubbles.” – Alvin and the Chipmunk style. She laughed so hard, she almost fell off the bunk.

On Sunday, we awoke to the chore of cleaning the dried muck off of our kayaks, but we decided to postpone that in favour of a 28 km return ride into Safford. The temperatures were beautiful in the morning, and the streets on Palm Sunday were pretty quiet so it was a great ride.

The plan in the afternoon was for more fishing, so we returned to Roper Lake – to find our kayaks completely clean – thanks to the efforts of Mike and Marlene. Given the struggles with the shore muck we abandoned ideas of further boating. Good plan! For later, the wind kept getting stronger (as forecast), and about 2:30 in the afternoon, all of a sudden we saw a cloud of black smoke quickly growing upwind from us. Within minutes, we could see flames leaping above the level of the dike road that runs around Roper Lake, so we jumped on our bikes to see what was going on. Apparently, a “controlled burn” had become NOT, and the fire had jumped boundaries of safety and was racing through scrub desert brushes – towards Roper Lake! We watched from the safety of the dike road until the fire jumped a road just parallel to us about a quarter mile away, then we decided that, for security sake, we should maybe consider packing up our stuff. The wind didn’t really seem to be pushing it towards us, but we didn’t want to be caught short. So, we loaded up the kayaks and bikes, and got ready to leave within a few minutes of warning.  Meanwhile, the fire jumped the dike road, and began burning some of the dry reeds along the shoreline. Finally, a pumper truck showed up, and managed to control the fire from spreading along the shoreline. A wind shift also turned the fire so that it was able to be controlled – as originally planned! We aborted our plan to camp in WalMart’s parking lot that night.

“Controlled burn” at Roper Lake

Monday’s drive into Phoenix was pleasant but surprisingly cold as temperatures on the high road through San Carlos Reservation dipped to 11 C. By the time we got to Phoenix (isn’t that a line in a song by Glen Campbell?) we were able to be back into shorts for our evening with the Hendersons at their golf mobile home park in El Mirage.

Tuesday was lounging at poolside at Hendersons, followed by a dinner with the younger generation Judd family. And we capped the day off with watching the Canucks beat Anaheim in a shoot-out! Perfect day – and a very Happy 93^rd Birthday to my mother in Langford!

Wednesday is another travel day, though we decided to keep it short – to Lake Havasu City via Wickenburg. A site at the State Park was almost not available as the Easter Weekend is almost upon us, and there is a Spring Break for some college crowd. However, the “overflow” parking is beautiful, and in some shade. Lucky for that, as the temps today reached into the low 90’s – and humid with high overcast.

Thursday April 5^th. This is our last day in Arizona as tomorrow we begin our trek north, and Mike and Marlene head west to Bakersfield. We are planning on being back in Walnut Grove on Monday night or Tuesday, however, the quilt shop in Portland still beckons one of us. (I have spent my allowance at Cabela’s! BUT…my birthday present awaits me at the Outlet Store in Winterburn in Oregon!) Today is again overcast and humid, and the forecast is for high winds later. So…we are sending out our last AZ Road Note from McDonald’s WiFi by the London Bridge! I will try to find at least one more connection before we find our Grand Family in Walnut Grove. Until then… Much love to all, and be safe!

Tony, the Quill, and Sandy, the Quilter

Friday, March 30, 2012

Prepare yourselves, dear family, friends and neighbours! This is going to be a long one! I have been “internet voiceless” for too long!

It was overcast on Saturday, March 17, and when we biked up to get internet access, we overheard someone saying high winds were predicted shortly. We cycled back to Squaw Lake, and had several hours of quiet waiting, so we paddled across the lake while the breezes gathered strength.

Saturday just after supper, the wind storm suddenly hit, and a nearby tenting family – Miguel, with wife and 3 boys, scrambled to pack up in high winds. Mike and I rushed to their assistance and were able to get them safely into their vehicle in about 10 minutes. As their vehicle drove away, the winds promptly died – for an hour or so before picking up again, and providing a very shaky overnighter.

We met Dick Kocan and Laura Bolles-Kocan from Suqualmie, WA. Dick is (or was) a parasitologist, and Laura was a medical researcher. Dick’s hobby is making stone aboriginal artifacts – like spearheads and arrowheads. These artifacts are remarkable in quality!

Dick and Laura

March 18, Sunday – more overcast and strong winds continued, so we began our packing. By Sunday night we were ready for the rains that came sporadically followed by much cooler temperatures with close to freezing on Sunday night.

High winds         Squaw Lake “camping” after Canadians start heading out.

We all left for Yuma on Monday. We stopped for a date shake at a date farm, and I called Onstar to once again point out to them that we had been unable to use our phone while at Squaw Lake. After 10 minutes of the now familiar tweets, and bings and buzzes that signify that my Onstar system is being updated, the young man announced that, because of my troubles, “3 months of service have been added to your plan.” (You may remember that last year on 4 separate occasions each Customer Support agent had added another 100 minutes to my Onstar telephone minutes.)

Eventually, we found side-by-side campsites at Rivers Edge. After locating our site, Sandy and I left to go into town going at the posted 15 mph as we left. We passed a cyclist who suddenly accelerated to pass us. “Your stairs are dragging,” he said. Neither he, nor Sandy said anything further, but the words  “You’re stupid.” hung in the air – unspoken! (Perhaps I am getting a bit sensitive about that!)

Apparently, Flagstaff had 29 inches of snow last night, and snow even fell on Tucson, and at Patagonia Lake (near the southeastern AZ border with Mexico).

Tuesday, March 20 was still rather cool in the morning so I started off our bike ride with a jacket, which I ditched before 11:00 as the temperatures got to a very temperate 74 or so. We cycled to the south of town, and then back to the Fort Yuma and over to the Yuma Palms shopping Center where we scoped out restaurants for a birthday dinner tomorrow. All in all, our ride today was 42 km – a record for this year’s endeavours.

March 21 – Wednesday. I spent much of the day hanging out on the internet, answering emails, and engaging in other communications. One communication that I wanted to do was denied to me since Onstar was not getting through to a 1-800 number that I needed to call. Once again, I called the Customer Support, and though all “upgrading” processes were repeated, I was still unable to make the call.  “We are sorry for your inconvenience, Mr. Dobson, and we will be adding 100 minutes to your telephone minutes with Onstar.” This is bizarre, but sort of profitable! I now have close to 500 minutes of Onstar time to be used up before May, 2013.

It was actually warm enough in the afternoon to have some pool time. Supper at the Olive Garden was a wonderful treat, and we brought enough home in doggy bags for another meal down the road. Back at the Truck House, we were delighted when granddaughter, Hannah made a connection with us on Skype, and Paula, Doug and Hannah extended well-wishes.             

Mike and Marlene help me celebrate at the Olive Garden     The Quilter and the Quill (I’m NOT stupid!)

March 22 – Thursday. It is time, once again to leave Yuma, and we head east in convoy towards Tucson. Our destination is Gilbert Ray State Park, which has been highly recommended to us by a number of our friends.

On our way east out of Yuma, we stopped for re-provisioning – a rather chaotic event where the two vehicles with the two males went in different directions while the two females were left to buy some small amounts of groceries. One of my stops was propane, but I was now clear that the 3.6 printed on the delivery slip was “gallons” – not “dollars”! We finally managed to rendez-vous again, gather up the women and groceries and headed east. Some miles out of Yuma, as we looked for a rest stop, a sudden flash thought rattled me – I HAD NOT PAID FOR THE PROPANE! Appropriately, signs cautioning us to slow down appeared, and warned us of a border patrol inspection. INCANTATIONS! (Altogether now… “You’re stupid.”) Sandy envisioned me in the lockup box in the back of one of the BP pickups! However, I guess that news of my pilfering had not reached them, for we were waved through – to our next stop – the Rest Stop, where I hastily used my new Onstar minutes to place a call to the garage and to pay my bill by Visa.

Gilbert Ray turned out to be as expected – a beautiful desert hillside with virtually no “lights” around, and thus a fantastic array of stars. In trying to get close up photo of a “cholla” cactus, I stood on a rock nearby. When I stepped off, something painful stabbed me in the toes. I guess I had discovered why it is called the “jumping cholla”. A very thorny end had fallen off and caught me on my bare toes – and actually penetrated through the rubber on the sandal sole! Tough stuff! However, I am made of tough stuff too, and I barely whimpered as I tweezered the very painful thorns out of my toes. (They have barbs, like fish-hooks!) (I won’t mention the two-word phrase that leaps all too easily to Sandy’s mind – or the other single words that are similar to the incantations necessary to catch bass!)

Sunset at Gilbert Ray                                                                  “Jumping Cholla”

On Friday, the four of us all piled into Truck House (2 in the Truck; 2 in the House) and prepared to drive off the blocks and the 3 miles to the Desert Natural Museum. As Truck House dropped off the blocks, Sandy went around to pick them up. (They are just plastic leveling blocks.) But, as she gathered them up, she uttered one of those fishy incantations, and showed me the latest mishap – I had left the sink drain hose hanging over the side of the truck and into our modified “porta-potty” – modified for catching our “gray” water from the kitchen. As the truck rolled off the plastic blocks, it rolled onto the “gray water porta-potty” and crushed it, while pulling the hose right off its mounting on the camper. Once more… with feeling… “You’re stupid.” (Will it never end???) The museum was awesome, and the day heated up dramatically to the point where we were glad to be back in the shade of our campers in the early afternoon.

We decided to leave for Patagonia Lake State Park on Saturday March 24, and we had a beautiful drive down Hwy 83 through Sonoita and Patagonia. The sign at the turnoff to Patagonia Lake stated “Campsite Full” but we ignored that and went on down. Luckily, there was a double site left, and we rejoiced! The place was very full with the last weekend of Spring Break, however everybody was well-behaved and I don’t think that I did anything stupid. We also booked a better location for 5 days starting Sunday after the crowds leave.

       
Entrance to Patagonia Lake                                                   “Bird Watching”?                                                                   Patagonia Lake shore

Sunday, March 25: as the crowds packed up to leave, the four of us went on trail walk that features many species of birds – and bird-watchers. So, we watched the bird-watchers watching the birds, and tried to avoid stepping in the cow bundles – in abundance. At one point, I pulled out my iPhone, and opened an App that I purchased called “iBirdPro”. I looked up the “Vermillion Fly Catcher”, as pointed out to us by one B-W’er, and hit the recorded sound button. As the recorded call sounded over and over, a confused Vermillion Fly Catcher circled us, and tried to figure out who to attack (or perhaps mate with, I am not sure what was being said on the recording.) I was very impressed and pointed out my App capabilities to a nearby B-W’er and his wife. They were NOT impressed, and walked away! A few minutes later we encountered another B-W’er pair, and I asked them about the ethics of using my recording. She gently explained that it was probably a no-no. I stand corrected, and am less stupid that I was earlier today.

  Bird watching from our campsite – a Cardinal.  Osprey with fish; jealous vulture waits turn.

After our walk, we moved our rigs to our new parking spots – on the lakeshore. A nice young couple with THREE dogs – two young yellow labs, and a small glass-biter – moved in right next to us. Beautiful dogs, but ill-disciplined and the throaty bark of the labs carried on into the evening, and then started again about 5:00 in the morning: this, for two whole days. We were not too unhappy to see them finally pack up.

For the 6 whole days that we were at Patagonia Lake, our life consisted of bird and squirrel watching from our anti-gravity chairs as we faced the trees and shrubs along the shore, kayaking daily – sometimes just touring, and other times with more focus on fishing (very successfully, as far as the fish were concerned!), and reading, reading, reading. What a crazy relief to not be distracted by chores, TV and internet! I am pretty sure that my grandchildren, nieces and nephews would not “like” this place, and would always be like looking sadly at their useless tech communication links, and going like… “like…when can we leave?”

Mike fishes the late shift

In any case, today we gave up our spots to the weekend crowd from Tucson, and headed east to Tombstone, stopping at Tombstone Territory RV Park to book a spot for this evening. This place is typical RV site with open, large, pull-through sites, and lots of “recreational” stuff for folks who hang around most of the winter. It has lots of rules, and a sign letting us know that the rattlers are active again. Thanks!

Tomorrow, we will head northeast towards Safford, AZ and the nearby State Park of “Roper Lake”. It is a small area, but we will try to catch some trout in the stocked lake. On Monday, we will head for Phoenix for our annual visit with our young cousins, the Judd family, and Tracey’s parents, (Sandy’s cousins) Shirley and Rich Henderson. We will have two nights in Phoenix, and then take indeterminate routes towards home. I will try to get one more posting up while in Arizona, and answer any emails that arrive before we leave from Phoenix.

As always, we are thinking of you all, and are now beginning to look forward to our returning home and seeing many of you – even though we will miss the cloudless warm days and cool nights to which we have become accustomed! (In Tombstone today, I figured the shoot-out at OK Corral was because the eight or so shooters, all dressed in long coats and high boots couldn’t stand the unwashed smell of each other after long days on horse-back under the hot sun – a little known fact of history!)

Love to all!